14 Accused Of Robbing Drug Dealers
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14 Accused of Robbing Drug Dealers
By Michael Marizco
ARIZONA DAILY STAR
Federal agents arrested 14 gang members who authorities say masqueraded as police officers, invaded Tucson homes, and ripped off narcotics and cash from drug-trafficking organizations.
The organization, which agents say was headed by Alfred Arvizu, 25, invaded at least 30 homes in the last six months in Tucson, said Capt. Dave Neri of the Counter Narcotics Alliance, a local, multiagency, anti-drug task force.
Arvizu and the other 13 members of his gang were arrested in a mass operation that used 130 officers and federal agents in different Tucson neighborhoods starting at dawn Wednesday, said Anthony J. Coulson, assistant special agent in charge of the Drug Enforcement Administration's Tucson office.
"Here's our message to these predatory groups: You've gotten our attention," Coulson said. "If you are one of these drug-trafficking thieves . . . surrender or move out of Arizona."
He also publicly warned the drug traffickers that Arvizu's group had targeted, saying they are now being hunted.
"Your safety depends on us finding you first," he said.
This latest turn in Tucson's crime scene presents a unique situation for the DEA. Coulson said drug traffickers will likely be the first to report the drug pirates while the thieves themselves will lead police to the drug traffickers.
Arvizu was charged under the drug-kingpin statutes with running a criminal enterprise, which carries a maximum 20 years to life in prison. He was also charged with conspiracy, possession and federal weapons violations, according to the federal indictment unsealed Wednesday. Ten others were charged with a variety of possession, weapons violations and conspiracy charges.
Five more men were identified but not yet arrested. Four of the 14 were arrested Wednesday afternoon but had not been charged.
The gang posed as buyers for drug traffickers and stole the drug shipments, then turned around and pretended to have narcotics for sale to outside buyers who came to Tucson with large amounts of cash to buy drugs in bulk, Coulson said.
Using police uniforms and gear, the gang would target stash houses in carefully planned home invasions, he said. The group also tried to intimidate police, following their families and making threats against them, Coulson said.
At times, the thieves would invade the wrong house, though officials would not give specifics on which home invasions this particular gang actually participated in, saying the cases are still under investigation. Last month, Tucson police said one of three home invasions was the result of a misidentification. In two other April home invasions, two men ended up dead.
Though no murder charges were filed in the federal indictment, there are at least two homicides for which Arvizu's gang is being investigated, Neri said.
The investigation began in September 2003 when Tucson police first noticed an inordinate number of home invasions in southern Tucson, Neri said.
The gang was also responsible for drive-by shootings and running drugs out of Arizona. They used machine guns and tracking devices to hunt down and intimidate drug smugglers trying to use Arizona as their courier routes, authorities said.
According to the indictment:
Last June, Arvizu called a marijuana buyer and invited that person to Tucson. The day the person arrived, Arvizu's gang was waiting for the person and stole an undisclosed amount of cash.
In another incident, six months later, the group divvied up $85,000 it had stolen from a trafficker Jan. 23 in Tucson.
In still another case, two members of the group smuggled about 2,000 pills of Ecstacy across the border here and in Texas, the indictment stated.
The gang posed a new threat in Tucson's drug-smuggling enterprise, said U.S. Attorney for Arizona Paul Charlton.
They are "individuals who were raising the level of danger in the narcotics trade to a new height by ripping off other drug dealers," Charlton said.
â—? Contact reporter Michael Marizco at 573-4213 or mmarizco@azstarnet.com.
